Archive for June 25th, 2011

Here’s what’s in the mix for this Saturday night’s Weekend Energy. This week’s show is so ridiculously under-dressed, it’s like a Victorian-era nudist.

Highlights

Nightbox – Pyramid – Many discoveries for me this week, including this Canadian-based band. They’ve recently dropped the uncharacteristically squishy and amorphic single, Pyramid – from their new EP. Pyramid is as light-weight as it is sharp, defined in its characteristic layering of jangly synths, reverb, rumbling drumbeat and choppy vocals. It’s warm and crisp, yet gooey indie-dance lyrics about being young and standing by pyramids, counting crystals and stuff – like a delicious quesadilla of sound. Check out the awesome video in HD!

Capital Cities – Safe and Sound – See this week’s “Discovery” below.

Tensnake – You Know I Know It – The last time I played Tensnake was about a year and a half ago when he released the disco-noir jam Coma Cat. There’ve been several good hits since then, none quite as fetching as You Know I Know It. The low-key disco vibe begins as an atmospheric piece: smokey with tinsel vines hanging down around conversing strangers. The song picks up a strut just before the two-minute mark shortly followed by chattery, drifting vocals. It’s a solid groove, totally ambient and alluring, an unparalleled five minutes and eighteen seconds.

Savoir Adore – Bodies – This is another group new to me this week. Their single Bodies, begins with a brash, jungley clapping sound that immediately sounds like a wild time. This male/female duo switches off on vocals, with the occasional harmonizing, making this song frenetic and melodic. I’ve had this song on repeat all week and I’m consistently charmed by its liveliness! this is a varied 3.5 minutes, perfect music for a short attention span, which seems to be all of us, a little bit. Check out their delightful independently budgeted music video.

(After the jump read this week’s Discovery and what Almost Made It)

Featured

Capital Cities

Got some end of June gloom? Check out “Safe & Sound” by Capital Cities for your weekly does of uplifting music. Capital Cities totally blindsided me this week, amidst all of this great new music, these guys were a pure musical gemstone. “Even if the sky is falling down… Even in a hurricane of frowns… Even if we’re six-feet underground, I know that we’ll be safe and sound…” I mean, does it get any happier than that? …Oh wait, that’s only like the first half of the song! On their Facebook page, this Los Angeles duo says their music is “Synth-tastically bright, danceable and catchy, yet maintaining a depth that reflects the bands roods in San Francisco, Paris and Armenia, it’s loaded with appeal.” Appealing it is! Their other single on iTunes, titled “One Minute More,” is equally rich and vibrant. Check out “Safe & Sound” first, and if it’s not for you then chew on some metal… you robot.

Here’s a sickeningly uplifting music video for the song, with lots of great retro dancing!

Almost Made It

Chrome Canyon

Chrome Canyon was new to me this week, but their song, “Suspended in Gaffa (feat. Phoebe Oglesbee)” sadly didn’t make the final cut. The reason being that this song’s vocals are so thoroughly twisted up, it would have undone everything else on the playlist. Kate Bush originated this song in 1982, with a calliope/carnival-esque bounce and her rich, signature vocals. Her music video also happens to be quite a fascinating performance piece in insanity. Yes, please do watch it. But the subject here is not Kate Bush’s genius, but the brilliance of Chrome Canyon for modernizing the sound, adding a booming drum, rich stereo sound, and a really-really great effort by Phoebe Oglesbee for staying true to the original vocals, but with more punch. I implore you to play this song on endless repeat and dance like Kate Bush in her video as I have been the entire time typing this.

Second Hour Rewind

The second hour rewind is the previous week’s first hour. Featured artists include Designer Drugs, Kiddy Smile, The Young Punx, Data MC, Reset! Strange Talk, Teenage Bad Girl and more!

“Crank up your stereo, bust out the strobe light and kick up the bass.”

Weekend Energy has been blowing out car stereo systems, upsetting the neighbors and enhancing the night life of western Kentucky every weekend since July 2007 on WKMS. Host Matt “McG” Markgraf pours through hundreds of songs each week to create “the loudest show on public radio” featuring the best techno, dance and electronica from around the world.

Weekend Energy airs Saturdays on 91.3 WKMS from 11 p.m. to 1 a.m. Stream it live on wkms.org Saturday nights.